Restructuring events
European Restructuring Monitor (ERM)
The restructuring events database contains factsheets with data on large-scale restructuring events reported in the principal national media and company websites in each EU Member State. This database was created in 2002.
The French survey company, ESP, has been declared insolvent and 135 people were made redundant. In April, the judicial liquidation was pronounced, with a declared liability of 3 million euros. With the development of surveys on the Internet, face-to-face and telephone survey activities, which are much more expensive, have lost its competitiveness, even if they remain essential in certain studies.
It is in this context that in 2018, Kantar, one of the world leaders in market research, was shedding its face-to-face and telephone survey activities by selling ESP and ESL, another formed subsidiary that went bankrupt in 2021, to Hichem Guerfali. The unions said that when the companies were sold a contract ensured a contribution of business from Kantar to continue the activity. However, according to the FO union, the Kantar group allegedly solicited other companies to carry out field surveys which led to the liquidation.
Eurofound (2023), ESP - Entreprise de Sondages de Paris, Bankruptcy in France, factsheet number 109134, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://apps.eurofound.europa.eu/restructuring-events/detail/109134.